Bruno Fernandes took the 91st minute penalty for Manchester United in their 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa this past weekend in the Premier League. The Portuguese midfielder blasted the shot over the bar in a rather uncharacteristic display and was visibly disappointed with himself afterwards.
The number 18 was the chosen penalty taker for United last season, but his position as the undisputed penalty taker has been thrown into doubt following the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo. The number 7 is arguably the most prolific penalty taker in the squad, but Fernandes took the responsibility upon himself to shoot the spot kick. However, he wasn’t successful against Aston Villa when it really did matter.
“The taker is chosen before the games. I would put my mortgage on Bruno [Fernandes] scoring. He is a strong boy, this will not affect him,” said coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the post-match press conference.
Fernandes has apologised to fans on social media for the miss and has shown true composure as a professional footballer. The midfielder has taken 23 penalties for United and has only missed two, and was arguably the better choice to take the spot kick than Ronaldo.
Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez taunted Fernandes before the kick and urged Ronaldo to take the penalty. One might assume that the Argentinian managed to get into the head of the kick-tacker.
However, Ronaldo didn’t step up and United ended up dropping all three points against their opponents, handing Villa their first win at Old Trafford since 2009.
